Pandaty

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1

.

Review:

(Note: This game is included in 2D Indie Bundle, along with Airship Defender, Boxerpunk Stories, Chip and Charge, Enduring Mountain, Fightro, Frogice, Frogy World, Hopping Bunny, Invasion Waves, Kattish, Lost Chiko, Mechapunk, Melonizard, Pipe Dream, Rattyvity Lab, Sector 98, Sentry Paragon, Skeljump, Tempoknight, Tiny Whaley, Turret Lab, Vigour, Wampir Dungeon, Webgeon Speedrun Edition, and Yello Adventures.)

Pandaty is a challenging Platformer released on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch in 2022. This game has players taking the role of a gruff-looking panda as he makes his way through a series of obstacle courses to get to his monkey friend (at least I think it’s a monkey).

The presentation in this game is pretty good, using a 2D pixel art style that’s quite appealing, backed by a decent (though occasionally repetitive) chiptune soundtrack. I will note one element of the presentation that I didn’t care for, though – there’s some sort of shadow overlay over the entire game that makes the edges of the screen look darker, for no apparent reason. Oh, also, the game is pretty poorly-localized, though this is more amusing than problematic – I admit a smile crossed my face when I realized the “frogs” the characters were talking about were actually turtles.

When it comes to the gameplay, this is pretty simple – you have a double-jump, and that’s it. Using only this, you must work your way through various obstacle courses. The difficulty spikes early here, and the game doesn’t waste any times giving players jumps they can only barely make with the limited jumping ability of their Panda. Because of this, jumping in this game just isn’t fun, and with this being the main way players interact with the game… well, it makes for a game that’s not very fun either.

I also need to point out the absurd price inflation this game received on the eShop. While the Xbox One version of this game sells for $5, the Nintendo Switch version is priced at $9. This is clearly to make it more impressive when the game is routinely discounted to $2, but it’s a pretty gross attempt to manipulate Nintendo Switch owners with the prospect of an apparent deal.

I’ll make this easier for you – Pandaty isn’t even worth the $2. On a game platform with tons of great Platformers, why would you inflict such a mediocre, frustrating, joyless Platformer on yourself. Save yourself a few bucks and some frustration and skip this one.

tl;dr – Pandaty is a Platformer where players double-jump through obstacle courses as a panda. The game’s retro-style pixel art presentation may be appealing, but the game itself is joyless and unoriginal. Skip this one.

Grade: D+

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